Found Gun In Car

John E. writes: I am in a desperate situation, at least I think I am. Two weeks ago I went to a concert and when I got back to my car one of the windows had been broken out and I didn't think twice about it. I was pissed, of course, but what can you do? Can't possibly fingerprint a million pieces of broken glass. But that's not the big deal. The next day, when I went out to my car in the morning I noticed a gun sitting on the floor of the back seat of my car and so I picked it up with a glove on to see it more closely. When I put it back down on the floor of my car I could see red streaks on the glove -- I think it's blood. I haven't told anyone yet, but I wondered what I should do. What if the gun has been used in a crime and now it's in my possession?

First of all, John -- today's police investigators can actually take a thousand broken pieces of glass and pull fingerprints from them (I mean, you do watch CSI right?). Of course, the perpetrator probably used an item to break it or a fist or possibly even the gun itself so on this point we must move on -- that's not the serious issue here. The serious issue is the gun that someone tossed off into your car.

There are two ways you can go with this, John. First, I will give you my advice as a lawyer. My advice is that you contact your local police immediately and give them a statement. Tell me exactly what happened, when you noticed it, how you touched it -- EVERYTHING. They will be able to investigate and examine this firearm with exceptional detail and may possibly be able to connect this gun to a crime of some kind. The fact that there is blood on the gun itself is also another clue the police lab can use to check DNA and see if such DNA connects with anyone in the database. This would be the right thing to do on almost all counts.

Now I would like to give you my advice as a LAWYER. (The caps mean that I am giving you advice as someone who has seen many situations go in the wrong direction due to the flaws in the legal system.) My advice as a LAWYER would be to take that gun, wrap it in cloth, put it in a locked box of some kind, put that box in a bigger box and fill it with concrete, let it set, and take that concrete slab and rent a boat... Take that boat into the middle of a big ocean or lake (lake is preferable because it probably won't wash up to shore like it would in the ocean) and drop it into the water. The chances that anyone will ever find the gun and/or connect it to you is extremely rare. I tell you this because there have been instances in which people have come to the police and "said they found items such as this gun" and then have indirectly been prosecuted for crimes they did not commit. The chance this happens to you is rare, again let me say that -- but I suggest that the "getting rid of the gun in a slab of concrete in the middle of a dark lake" is the better choice.

I wish you the best of luck in your decision.

Getting a D.W.I.

Anonymous writes: "I got nailed with a DWI (driving while intoxicated) very recently after leaving a party with a friend of mine. I drove because my friend had way more than I had to drink yet I still had a couple of glasses of wine. I wasn't drunk at all but I leaned over to pick up a CD and swerved and got pulled over for that and when they smelled the wine on my breath they had me do the breathalizer. After spending the night in jail I got bailed out by my father who told me that there might be a way to lessen the penalty fee and/or punishment if I mention my friend had something to do with it. I don't want to do that but I wondered what options I might have barring having to pay a lawyer to help me out?"

Surprisingly, getting a DWI without any priors is more damaging to a person than a triple-murder suspect getting a DWI. Yes, that's right! But since you're not going to go out and kill three people to make this DWI go away (the prosecuters would rather charge you with triple homicide than a lame little DWI) you're going to have to deal with this one head-on.

Your father is right in one way. If you must go to court and you do not have the money for a lawyer (which happens on TV all the time so believe me that this is true) you will be appointed one by the court. Now, if you can convince this court appointed lawyer that you are the other person (i.e., your friend), which can be accomplished through the use of fake I.D.s and what not (which I'm not encouraging, by the way) you may be able to convince them that your friend is really you. A switch like this, which happens often due to mistakes in booking practices, could cause your friend (who was under the influence as well) to be charged for the DWI and allow you to get off scott-free. But the more realistic option is to convince your court appointed counselor that your breath smells like wine all the time and that you have chronic asthma.

An asthmatic who has breath that smells like wine can also appear to be a driver under the influence due to the lack of breath and wine-scented odor -- but cannot be charged for a DWI. Such a legal precedent has been set in the past (Yasner v. Cook County, PA is one case to refer to) where an asthmatic was believed to be under the influence while she was, in fact, simply having chronic shortness of breath. She got off, and so can you.

Legal Advice For The Rest of Us!

The United States is the most litigious country on the face of the Earth, if not in the entire Universe (although I couldn't possibly prove this fact, even in a court of law).

This means one thing for over 94% of the American Public -- that they cannot afford lawyers. That they cannot afford the absolutely ridiculous fees (I charge $325 per hour and that's not even the average) that lawyers charge for simple advice, simple answers and simple suggestions.

It's time that such practices be changed.

I have been planning to start this blog for sometime so that people would have somewhere to go in which to get answers to their legal questions without ever having to drop a dime on advice. Yet there were issues I had to resolve first. I had to ensure that my current employer would not find out about my free advice site as well as that it was totally legal. Such research has driven me to make the following disclaimer:

Disclaimer: The advice given on Amateur Legal Advice should be taken as advice only. Any information retrieved from this site is simply for entertainment purposes and it is up to the reader whether or not to use said advice. The author of this site is not responsible for what readers do with this advice or the outcome of any of their actions.

You should also be aware that my education in the legal field has been culled from a variety of educational and real-world experiences, practice legal knowledge and a variety of modern day media programs.

With that in mind, please feel free to submit any and all legal questions you may have -- but be aware that I will be posting your questions and answers on this site. If you prefer that your name is not used, please inform me of that as well.

Now let's help some people!